Norwegian Embassy Minister of Economic Affairs will speak about current policy challenges regarding the Arctic
Date & Time: February 11, 2015 | 09:00 PM – 10:15 PM
Location: Katz 116
Leif Trana, Minister Counsellor for Economic Affairs at the Embassy of Norway will present on policy challenges in the Arctic as part of the Penn State School of International Affairs’ spring colloquium: Current Policy Challenges. The Arctic is Norway’s top policy issue.
Before joining the Embassy of Norway in August 2014, Trana serviced as the director of the section for organizational development in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Oslo. In this position, he focused on how to align the resources used at various embassies with Norwegian interests in the corresponding country or organization. Before that, he was deputy director int eh same section. He spent five years working on World Trade Organization matters focusing on the agricultural and the National Agri-Marketing Association negotiations in the Doha Development Agenda. Trana is a career foreign-service officer who has served in Riyadh and Washington. He received his M.A. in economics from the University of Oslo.
Professor and U.S. Ambassador (Ret.) Dennis Jett, organizes the semester long event to bring thought leaders on topics ranging from food security to terrorism. The program features 14 speakers. Colloquium topics vary depending upon the current issues of the day. The course surveys some major transnational social problems confronting the world, suggested by the Copenhagen Consensus, such as: climate change; communicable diseases; conflict and arms proliferation; access to education; financial instability; governance and corruption; malnutrition and hunger; migration; sanitation and access to clean water; and subsidies and trade barriers. The course involves team teaching and guest lecturers. The course lectures are open to the public and made available via webcast.